The Pacific Risk Management ʻOhana (PRiMO), a group of more than 100 organizations protecting Pacific Island communities from natural hazards, has selected four recipients for their outstanding efforts in disaster resilience. The awards were presented at the 2018 PRiMO Conference, Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction, held at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in August.

“We applaud our 2018 award recipients who are have made impactful contributions and helped ensure that we are better prepared in facing natural and man-made challenges in Hawaiʻi and throughout the Pacific,” said PRiMO Chair Karl Kim, who is executive director of the University of Hawaiʻi’s Natural Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC).

The 2018 recipients

The PRiMO Leadership Award recognized Charles Fletcher, professor and associate dean for academic affairs in UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean, Earth Sciences and Technology, and Hawaiʻi Island Mayor Harry Kim, for their tireless efforts and longstanding leadership in helping the people of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific to become more prepared and resilient to natural disasters.

The PRiMO Partnership Award went to Ikaika Marzo, a Puna resident and community leader on Hawaiʻi Island, for his exemplary on–the–ground efforts monitoring and sharing information on the 2018 Kīlauea eruption, and his initiative to organize donations for the communities affected.

The NDPTC Community Resilience Award was given posthumously to Margaret Davidson, founding director of NOAA’s Coastal Services Center, for her significant career-long work in coastal management and her efforts in working with NDPTC to make coastal communities more resilient to natural disasters.

More about PRiMO

PRiMO was founded in 2003 as an effort to explore opportunities to enhance communication and collaboration among the ʻohana of local, national and regional organizations involved in risk management.